Hanklit

Hanklit rises about sixty metres above the Limfjord on the northern edge of Mors, and its face is a cross-section through moler, a pale diatomite formed on a sea floor around fifty-five million years ago, interleaved with dark bands of volcanic ash from eruptions in what is now the North Atlantic as it opened. The ice sheet pushed the whole sequence up and tilted it, so the layers run diagonally across the cliff in stripes that are visible from a long way off. The moler is full of exceptionally preserved fossils, insects, fish and birds, and the deposits on Mors and neighbouring Fur have been proposed for World Heritage listing. A path climbs the cliff from the shore with the view over the fjord from the top.

What you actually see

• Diagonal ash bands - volcanic layers tilted by the ice sheet.
• Pale diatomite cliffs - moler laid down on a fifty-five-million-year-old sea floor.
• The Limfjord view - the water and the island from the cliff top.
• Fossil-bearing rock - insects, fish and birds preserved in the moler.

When to go

April to October for the walk. Two hours. Morning or evening light picks the ash bands out best. The cliff face is best seen from the shore below or from the water.

Honest expectations

The cliff is actively eroding and rockfall happens; do not walk at the base after rain. The path up is steep and slippery. Collecting fossils from the cliff is restricted. There are no facilities and parking is limited.

Nearby

Fur island and its fossil museum are east; Nykobing Mors lies south.